Thursday, March 15, 2012

I was busy in the kitchen one Saturday evening when the kids and D were watching a show on Ancient Egypt. Snatches of the narration was automatically forming images in my head as I went about getting dinner ready.

Considered one of the successful pharaohs of Egypt, Hatshepsut...

She was one of the most prolific builders, a fine warrior leading successful military campaigns...

Her step-son Thutmosis III led her army and was co-regent...

Thutmosis III was short, standing only five feet tall as his mummy reveals..

Not to be quelled by a loud reply till I figured this puzzle out, I persisted with, "Tot moses? How is it spelled?"

"Bird Eyeball Bird Cleaver Fox..." D rattled off without pausing for breath as I keeled over with a bout of hysterical laughing fits.

D doesn't talk much. Not much at all. A few sentences a week is about as much we hear from him. A few necessary and terse sentences. Well, he is not home a lot. Or rather, he is not available for us at home a lot... keeps himself very busy...

Hmmm... this isn't going where I am headed.

Let me try again.

D is a man of few words, about as talkative and animated as a dormant lump of clay. I tell myself that Still Waters Run Deep, for what it's worth.

Wait. That wasn't that much better.

But, I best move on. This is no Tale of Two Cities and I am no C. Dickens with pithy lines.

The fact is, I grew up with a lot of talking and laughing in my family. My dad could've been a fine stand-up comedian - he finds humor in a lot of unlikely places and loves to make us laugh. Not just telling jokes, no. His turn of phrase, tone, accent all add up to quite a listening experience even when he is telling an everyday event, in just a few well-chosen words.

So, it is quite a bummer for me to not have that for my kids. My mom was never the jokester, she had her plate full, she had no time to be funny. And, I am not much of a joke-maker even though I do find some everyday things funny and laugh to myself.

I could ramble on pointlessly here, can't I? Especially if I am typing away late at night when kids are in bed...

Well, before it slipped my mind I wanted to chalk down a couple of random things D threw out last week that had me doubling over with laughter while fighting off an automatic stinging, "No, I mean..."

On Sunday, when kids were watching Land Before Time, I caught a particular scene where one of the creatures was falling down a cliff - a moment calculated to be full of suspense and drama no doubt - is he going to crash to death down below? How can an effective rescue be mounted at this impossible hour?

...when at the eleventh hour an arm shoots out and grabs the falling creature's arm, hanging precariously at the edge of the cliff while trying to pull up this downward-bound creature...

Of course, gravity and momentum being what they are, the rescuer at the edge of the cliff will probably hurtle down as well. Right?

I've seen this ridiculous stunt in so many action movies and it has managed to irk me so much that it pinched a nerve and made me blurt out, "But, that's just so insane! I wish they wouldn't perpetuate this nonsense..." all hot and bothered.

Children's Books We've Enjoyed

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